1. Field of Invention
The field of this invention is the production and generation of visual subliminal images, and in particular, video subliminal images intended to alter behavior, attitudes, moods and/or performance.
2. Description of Prior Art
Video subliminal image generation products are popular and widely available. Subliminal herein refers to signals which are measurably present but below the level of human conscious perception. The video subliminal images are intended to aid viewers in: losing weight, reducing smoking, gaining self-confidence and much more.
Typical of such products are VCR tapes which may contain subliminal video and subliminal audio messages presented simultaneously against a backdrop of conventional clearly perceptible (i.e., supraliminal) scenes and sound tracks.
Typical clearly perceptible scenes and sound tracks on VCR self-help tapes include: a beach at sundown with crashing wave sounds, a sky full of clouds accompanied by the noise of wind rushing through pines, flowers bobbing in the wind backed with new-age music, etc.
Against these scenes, video subliminal messages are flashed or faded about once every 1 to 30 seconds. Subliminal messages are presented for durations ranging from a single television frame (1/30 of a second U.S. NTSC standard), to a up to about 5 seconds.
As presently known, these subliminal messages are composed solely of text presented at very faint levels. This text may appear as solid or airbrushed outlined letters and may contain from one to over five words.
Accompanying this text are generally subliminal verbal messages which are masked by the conventional clearly perceptible sound tracks they accompany.
These video self-help tapes have several disadvantages. First, the relatively long duration their text messages appear on a television screen (1/30 second or longer) means the messages must be presented at very faint visual contrast levels to remain subliminal. The human eye can clearly perceive a single television frame at 1/30 of a second, so making these messages have low contrast with their backgrounds is the only means to make them truly subliminal.
Hiding these subliminal text messages is complicated by their clearly perceptible backgrounds having many visual values which regularly change. To compensate for this, many of these tapes show scenes with broad areas of near uniform visual values and present their subliminal images using translucent text of a single intensity. Such tapes make no effort to locally adjust the values of their visual subliminal messages according to the backgrounds they are presented against. To simplify tape production still further, these tapes also keep such scenes on television screens for long durations.
Next, the relatively long durations these subliminal text messages appear on a television screen limits the number of messages which may be shown within a given period of time. By taking one or many full television frames to display a message, these systems limit the amount of information they can convey.
Next, the relatively long durations these subliminal text messages appear on television screens limits the frequencies at which such messages may be shown. This in turn limits the visual rhythms such messages may be shown at. Visual rhythms, like those created by strobe lights or rapidly changing movie scenes, have been shown to have a strong influence on human receptivity, moods and behavior. Current tapes make no attempt to use the rhythms at which they present their visual subliminal messages as a means of affecting user receptivity, moods or behavior. There are indications such subliminal visual rhythms may be used, among other things, to relax a user to be more receptive to subliminal visual and audio messages, and to alter viewer moods. Such organized subliminal visual rhythms may also be coordinated with organized rhythms in accompanying subliminal audio messages as well as with organized rhythms in accompanying clearly perceptible scenes and sound tracks to enhance the tapes' effects.
Finally, as indicated, the messages contained on today's self-help subliminal video tapes use only text to convey their messages. Text messages rely on a viewer's reading ability and are easily subject to misinterpretation. An example of such misinterpretation might be the message "less food is good" being quickly misread as "food is good" thus encouraging a viewer to eat instead of curbing excessive consumption. Such misinterpretation is exacerbated by the lack of visual obviousness inherent in video subliminal messages. The human mind interprets meaning from graphic images more quickly and fundamentally than from written words. None of today's self-help video tapes are understood to use graphic subliminal images to convey their messages.